For forty-six years, Jim and Linda Lee have worked to develop and enrich Prescott’s profile as a center for artistic and scholarly achievement in Northern Arizona. On Wednesday, Yavapai College honored their generosity by etching their names into the profile of the community they have supported for so long. Yavapai College has officially renamed its iconic performance hall The Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center.

“Today we celebrate another act of philanthropy from Jim and Linda that will impact the lives of countless people.” Yavapai College President Dr. Lisa Rhine said, citing the establishment of the Jim and Linda Lee Endowment for the Performing Arts at Yavapai College. “Gifts of this nature do much more than put a name on a building. They allow us to provide sustainable support for the performing arts. They allow us to continue to bring top-tier talent to our region and to fund operations of Northern Arizona’s premiere arts entertainment venue.”

In an afternoon ceremony under the center’s signature colonnade, College officials honored the Lees, whose work creating and developing upscale residential and commercial developments in Prescott have added to the area’s economic growth and prosperity. Dr. Craig Ralston, YC’s Performing Arts Director of Programming & Development, tracked a legacy that includes local landmarks like The Ranch at Prescott, the Prescott Gateway Mall and Touchmark, as well as benevolent ventures like the Yavapai Symphony, the Jim & Linda Lee Planetarium at Embry-Riddle, and decades of support for Yavapai College. “We now celebrate the Jim and Linda Lee Performing Arts Center. It ensures that the arts at YC, and in Yavapai County, continue to grow to future generations.”

The naming was approved by the College’s District Governing Board in February and prominent lettering on the building’s façade was completed earlier in June. The 1,064-seat performing arts center is Northern Arizona’s largest entertainment venue; home of YC’s Performing Arts Department, training the next generation of actors, singers, musicians, and technical theatre professionals; and home to the College’s Prescott Campus Art Gallery. A favorite of local audiences, the venue has offered more than 30 years of touring artists, local talent, symphonies, festivals, motion pictures and local events.

At Wednesday’s ceremony, Dr. Ralston quoted the words of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “’The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and dreaming dreams but in active charity and willing service.’ Jim and Linda, for your compassionate actions over four decades, your charity and service to our community and our students of the arts at YC, we gratefully thank you.”

The Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center is located at 1100 E. Sheldon Street, on the Yavapai College Prescott Campus. The Ticket Office is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. For reservations or more event information, please call: (928) 776.2000 or visit: www.ycpac.com.